After two divisive and finally failed makes an attempt to revitalize the Predator franchise within the 2010s, twentieth Century Studios discovered its stride with 2022’s Prey. Whereas sadly locked to Hulu on account of the Disney-Fox merger, that movie was met with such a robust reception that it gave the sci-fi horror franchise the increase it’d been needing. Now, the studio is holding that momentum going with two tasks in 2025: Predator: Badlands in November, and this week’s animated Killer of Killers.
Past their being linked by returning Prey director Dan Trachtenberg (co-directing right here with Josh Wassung, and dealing off a script by Micho Robert Rutale from a narrative by Rutale and Trachtenberg), this future trilogy appears to have been made with the intent of bringing a selected set of concepts and ideas for the Predator franchise to fruition. By itself, that’s not stunning, because the franchise tried this earlier than with its 2018 movie, and its sibling sequence Alien additionally just lately made this identical play with 2024’s Alien: Romulus.
What makes all of the distinction is how a lot Trachtenberg, Wassung, and Rutare make an earnest effort to let Killer of Killers operate as its personal work that’s knowledgeable by, however not reliant on, its predecessor, at the same time as the 2 can’t assist however be in dialog with each other. And as with Prey, the tip result’s a challenge that succeeds at practically all the pieces it units out to do, a lot that it’s a disgrace it will probably’t get the complete, theatrical rollout one thing as enjoyable and stylish as this virtually positively deserves.
Like prior movies, Killer focuses on a solid of people enacting violence on their fellow man simply earlier than a technologically superior alien from one other world abruptly arrives trying to shed some blood. Whereas Prey took its time exhibiting how Naru and its Predator each moved via the area of the 1719 Nice Plains, Killer is extra fast-paced. This can be a film that prioritizes motion and gore over pressure, however that’s not as a lot of a betrayal because it sounds. That motion can typically be tense, each in how viscerally violent it’s and in how relentless the Predators are in pursuit of their targets. It helps that co-directors Trachtenberg and Wassung have introduced over a key a part of what made that earlier movie such a delight: the constantly shifting energy dynamics between the hunters and the poor souls they’ve set their sights on.
Every of the three tales—841 AD’s “The Defend;” “The Sword,” set in 1629 Japan; and “The Bullet,” set in WWII’s North Pacific—run 20 minutes and play out roughly as you’d count on based mostly on their setting. That predictability and narrative slightness finally ends up working in Killer of Killers’ favor, since major characters Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), ninja Kenji (Louis Ozawa), and pilot John Torres (Rick Gonzalez) get simply sufficient backstory to tell their private plights and make them compelling even earlier than their respective Predators enter the image. Ursa and Kenji’s tales are extra somber, not totally in contrast to Naru’s in Prey.
Conversely, Torres is a significantly chattier character, and his story has extra humorous beats. That has the potential to feeling like too sharp a distinction, however by the point his story comes, the movie’s earned sufficient goodwill that it doesn’t undermine issues, and the eventual payoff for what all the pieces has constructed as much as is satisfying and enjoyable in its personal proper.
What unites the trio thematically is their skill to outwit the aliens trying so as to add some new spines to their collections. Predator films have all the time been thought of slashers the place the victims are simply as succesful as they’re helpless, and that via line continues in Killers. The movie takes full benefit of its particular person settings to indicate how the people come to grasp and rapidly adapt to the Predators’ bag of methods, and the options they every provide you with to show the tide of battle (and even simply to get a breather) are fairly intelligent. The Predators themselves are a pleasant, numerous bunch, and whereas not as characterised as Prey’s Feral hunter, they’ve an identical curiosity and imply streak that imbues them with simply sufficient character.
Visually, Killer is a reasonably good film to have a look at, made extra spectacular by this being the sequence’ first full foray into animation. The CG/3D artwork type is harking back to Arcane, however animated at a body price just like Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, giving particular person actions a selected weight. For a film with lots of motion, twentieth Century Animation and Third Ground have provide you with a number of spectacular battle scenes that’ll really feel acquainted however are pulled off with a formidable quantity of flourish and gore that it gained’t matter. (A protracted take involving Ursa and her raiders is only one of a number of fist-pumping highlights all through.) And when it’s not exhibiting off how bloody fights with the Predator will be, the movie is exhibiting off spectacular vistas and offering such scale that it’s once more a disgrace this could’t ever come to the large display screen.
The power of its particular person tales would make Killer of Killers worthwhile by itself, however its closing act brings issues house with one enjoyable beat after one other that feels just like the crew wished to get all the pieces they might into this challenge. By the point it’s laid down all of the playing cards and revealed what all the pieces’s all been constructing as much as and the place it might go subsequent, it’s simple to come back away impressed at how confident and assured it carries itself your complete time. Dwell-action franchises can stumble after they take unique holidays to the world of animation, however that’s not the case right here—this movie’s greater than received the products and is a advantageous addition to the Predator’s current resurgence.
Additionally starring Michael Biehn, Predator: Killer of Killers arrives June 6 on Hulu.
Need extra io9 information? Try when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and all the pieces you could learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.
